How far have you driven?

Sea_Shell

I've just realised that I've not driven our car since 18th March, 5 weeks ago.    Since then, we obviously went into lockdown, and as we don't work (retired), we've only been popping to the supermarket once a week, for which DH drives (and now goes alone).   This is a whopping 5 mile round trip, on urban roads.   So glad we have a petrol car these days.    We've not been on a duel-carriageway in all that time, and hardly got out of 3rd gear!!

How long have you gone without driving before now?   Is this the longest period you've gone without driving?   What's the furthest you've had to drive since lockdown?   How are you keeping your cars in good order, especially if you have a diesel?   What if this carries on for months, as we're not supposed to take our cars "for a run" for the sake of it?

I'd be interested to know.   

DrEskimo

Last drove my EV to the office in Oxford, which is about a 80mile round commute, on March 12th. Had a sore throat so picked up my laptop and began isolating (wasn't COVID). The next day I topped up the battery to about 85% at the local car park and it hasn't moved since

It's lost about 2% in the last 6 or so weeks it's been sat. Funnily enough, the rise in temperatures is actually causing the predicted range to increase :P

DD265

It's been the supermarket/butchers/vet for us, the furthest away being 8.8 miles . Luckily for the supermarket we drive down a national speed limit dual carriage way, so the diesel Tiguan can have a reasonable run. I'm accustomed to servicing cars twice a year; previous car was older and doing high mileage, so I'm considering whether the Tiguan will benefit from a 6 month service (if my garage will do it) given the circumstances. OH is registered as an NHS volunteer, so if he gets any calls, the car will have a bit more work to do.

I'm more concerned with my sister's 106 which is not being driven at all and has only had 15 minutes with the ignition running since we went into lockdown, and was turned around on the driveway. I think we'd better use that for the supermarket run this weekend.

Exemplar

In 5 weeks 0 miles in the car. 

Scrapit

90 miles per working day. Next to 0 miles weekends.

jimbo6977

Take the "long" way round (15mi) to the supermarket to get some motorway miles in at 3000rpm. Once a week. That's it. 

Marvel1

Still driving = work.

2 weeks without driving as I was abroad.

pattycake

I have only driven my Fiesta to the supermarket 4 times in 4 weeks.  Barely 5 minutes drive. I can easily walk but can’t carry a week’s worth of shopping.  Predictably, the battery is flat.  A friend has been round and put it on charge for 24 hours but says I need to run it to keep it going.  We are retired and do very low mileage anyhow but I know we shouldn’t just take the car out in the current circumstances.  I really don’t know what to do for the best!

Astrozombies

A few weeks with not being driven should do a car no harm at all. 

mark1959

A few months doesn't. We've been away for months on end and left the cars to a neighbour who kindly trickle charges the batteries once a month. On 4 occasions they've started and ran no problem. 

Ectophile

I'm not too worried about my diesel car.  It only gets used for the supermarket run once a week (the other car gets used alternately with it). But I take a roundabout route to the supermarket to give the engine time to warm up.  I can't really imagine the DPF clogging up that quickly.  It's not like I'm doing endless short journeys.  Once I have a valid excuse to make a longer journey, I will make a point of using that car.